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Google+ API Means Third Party Apps are on the Way

After the initial buzz around Google+ a couple of months ago, it didn’t take long for the tumbleweed to start blowing in and the lack of continued interest in the social network has become something of a running joke.*

That could all be about to change now that Google+ has opened up its API(application programming interface) which will allow people to create third party apps for the platform. Arguably, one of the things that has made other social media platforms so successful is the wealth of apps that add new functionality and improve usability. Twitter is a great example of this. I’d argue that without desktop apps such as TweetDeck and the various mobile apps, Twitter would be nowhere near as successful as it is today.

So, now that the API is available, we should start to see some apps for Google+ which might reignite interest. However, it’s worth pointing out that at this stage Google+ has only rolled out an early, and quite limited API which can only really read data which users have made public.

It’s a step forward for Google+, but with such limited functionality we’re unlikely to see a TweetDeck style killer app for the platform any time soon. Hopefully a more fully featured API will be made available in the near future.

*For those of you who don’t waste your lives lurking in the dark corners of the internet, that image makes use of the popular “Forever Alone” meme to make fun of Google+.

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HyperText is brought to you by Text100’s consultants. We created this blog as a forum for discussion on emerging and mainstream communications trends and how they are being embraced, challenged and championed. The posts are the opinions of the writers and may not necessarily reflect the views of Text100.